Ayn Rand “Philosophy” in Play

A little over a half a century ago, a Russian immigrant to US wrote a couple of novels, i.e. pieces of fiction, with a philosophy that would put “rational” self interest above everything else. This philosophy in “Atlas Shrugged” was widely criticized as an “intellectual cover” to the age old notion called greed. Furthermore, this philosophy measures accomplishment purely in the “monetary” metrics and attributes that “success” to one individual without regard to the people who helped in that “successful” pursuits. And then there is this complete and unqualified vilification of Government.

John Galt, the hero of “Atlas Shrugged”, finally refuses to play by the “rules” of the Government. He and his fellow “producers” walks out on the “parasites,” and adopts the communist/labor union technique called “going on strike.” This Galt-style lockout has a unique phrase of its own called, “going Galt.”

After the 2012 elections, several corporate CEOs in USA have declared their intentions to “go Galt” and fire their employees because Obama won the election against their best effort to buy the election through the super PACs they generously funded. TV blowhard pundits like Bill O’Reilly have their own twisted logic to justify this lunacy. In this segment, I talked about this Ayn Rand philosophy in play in the post-2012 election scene in America.

Date of Broadcast: 2012-11-30

Audio Language: Telugu